


until next time

by sapphicish



Category: WandaVision (TV)
Genre: Gen, Psychological Fun!, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29878752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphicish/pseuds/sapphicish
Summary: One day Agnes woke up and went to the square.Every day Agnes woke up and went to the square.
Relationships: Agatha Harkness & Wanda Maximoff
Comments: 20
Kudos: 157





	until next time

**Author's Note:**

> #justiceforagatha

The people of Westview were acting kind of strange lately.

It didn't really occur to Agnes as a problem. It was probably just her imagination acting up. It felt like they would stare and whisper behind her back if they got the chance, and none of them ever spent longer than a few minutes around her. None of them answered the door if she knocked, but some of them peered out of the windows, waiting for her to leave. It felt like she was a stranger looking in, some kind of outsider, and ordinarily Agnes would've pushed past that sensation and made herself welcome and right at home anyway.

It didn't come so easily anymore, but it was probably just her imagination. Westview was the same as it had always been, bright and lively. She went shopping, she cooked, she watched TV and waited for Ralph to get home, not that he ever did. It was like whenever she was out, he was in, and whenever she was in, he was out. They didn't see each other anymore. Not at all, really.

Agnes was fine with that. She liked when Ralph had other things to do, because otherwise he'd insist on watching sports at the loudest volume possible, or criticize her cooking, or do anything else that never sat completely right with her.

They were a better couple at a distance. It had always been that way.

Besides, now she had the whole house to herself.

The whole, empty house.

And she kept herself busy. She'd taken up embroidery, and knitting, and drinking a lot of coffee. Lots of coffee. Lots of it.

The more caffeine the better. She'd been having the most awful nightmares lately, though by the time she woke up from one she couldn't remember them at all, she just knew they were always terrifying. She woke up with sweat slick and chilling on her skin, soaking through to the sheets, and her throat raw from screaming.

No one ever called in a noise complaint.

Agnes was happy, loneliness and nightmares aside.

Why wouldn't she be?

She loved Westview.

Westview was exactly as beautiful as it had always been, and she had never been happier.

Never.

It didn't change the fact that she felt a spark of something like genuine joy for the first time in weeks or months or years – she didn't really bother to keep track, why would she, it didn't matter at all anymore – when she opened the door to someone knocking on it for the first time in (again! again! what was time! why was time! it didn't matter! she didn't care! she didn't need to tell time to be happy! she didn't need to know the passage of time to be happy! and she was! she was so happy! she was so happy!) and saw Wanda standing there.

Agnes vaguely recalled the last time she'd seen her. She didn't know when that had been, but it couldn't have been all that long ago. Wanda looked the same, or so she thought. Same red hair. Same pretty, youthful face. Soft smile. She wanted to squeeze her. She wanted to pinch her cheeks, to hold her tight, to say (please! please! please!) –

“Hello, Agnes,” Wanda said. She had an accent, which Agnes figured was from all the traveling she must have been doing, since she hadn't seen her in quite some time. Or maybe it hadn't been all that long. For all she knew, Wanda had always had an accent. Agnes had always been bad with that. Knowing voices, knowing accents. Whatever.

“Wanda!” Agnes wrapped her arms around the woman on her porch, beaming a grin from ear to ear as she leaned back. Maybe it had been too long of a hug – Wanda looked slightly uncomfortable, and Agnes didn't apologize, just patted her on the hip and yanked her inside. “Hiya, doll. I haven't seen you in forever! Gosh, you're looking real good. Honestly, puts _me_ to shame. I feel like I should get dressed up for you!”

Agnes' laughter felt suddenly like it lasted a very long time, unnecessarily long. But she couldn't stop laughing, really, until Wanda took her by the arm and had her sit down on the couch, taking the space next to her.

“I'm sorry I haven't visited,” Wanda said, still smiling, though it seemed to be wearing at the edges, not really real. Agnes didn't comment – she didn't do things like that. She could be gossipy, could be nosy, but she wasn't going to pry into the life of the only person who had visited her in –

In –

“Oh, don't you worry about a thing,” Agnes said cheerfully, “I've been keeping busy too, you know. Can you believe I've taken up painting? I know! Me, an artist! Hilarious! Ralph doesn't think it's a worthwhile pursuit, not that he said it in _those_ words exactly, they're too big for him...anyway! Come here, I'll show you...” She bounced to her feet, grabbed Wanda right off the couch and took her into the bedroom, showing her the easel set up in the corner with a dramatic flourish. “My newest masterpiece.”

Wanda stared at it for a while. Agnes wasn't the kind of person to feel nervous – she'd never had stage fright, never had a fear of being judged or critiqued or criticized, never experienced anything like that at all. The way she figured, if she took things in stride, so would everyone else.

Wanda looked back at her. Her face was blank, but her eyes were quiet – not soft, not really, Agnes didn't think that word applied. But they were quiet, and understanding.

Agnes had no idea why. The painting was a painting, not a story to tell. Lots of reds and whites. It was all a bit abstract. Frankly, if someone asked her what it was, she'd have no answer.

Fortunately, Wanda didn't ask. Instead her lips curved up in another one of those odd little smiles and she reached out to touch Agnes on the shoulder.

“It's nice, Agnes.”

Agnes felt like—

She—

Well, she didn't feel anything, really. It was nice. Wanda had always been such a sweetheart, though, and she told her that, grinning until her face hurt.

And then just like that, Wanda was gone.

It was dark outside. Some time must have passed, but Agnes didn't really—

She didn't really remember. She stood there in the dark, looking at the canvas, looking at the space where she knew Wanda had once stood. It was dark outside, so she went into the kitchen and turned on all the lights, and she made herself a pot of coffee.

Then she went and she watched TV.

And she drank coffee.

The more caffeine the better.

  


  


One day Agnes woke up and went to the square.

Every day Agnes woke up and went to the square. It seemed to her like business as usual. No one spoke to her and everyone avoided looking at her as she went past. She knew that some of the neighbors had moved suddenly. She'd seen them getting on buses, watched their furniture being loaded onto moving trucks, overheard them whispering about plane tickets.

That was fine, she figured. Neighbors came and went. She herself had no plans to get out, though a man just the other day or week or minute had stopped her on the street and said, "I'm sorry," and then, "you should leave."

He wouldn't look at her either but he seemed to understand when she laughed cheerily, bright bright grin bright bright eyes, and said, "Oh, no, I love Westview! Besides, Ralph wouldn't be too happy about that, you know. And you know what they say. Happy wife, happy life."

He let her go without another word and Agnes went through the square. She shopped for a few things. She unloaded the groceries into their rightful places when she got home. She made herself a pot of coffee.

"Agnes," someone said, and she jumped, turning around with a gasp.

"Oh! Wanda! Jeez, you scared the heck outta me! You've gotta give a girl some warning, you know." Said with a laugh, of course, because Agnes always laughed. That was her all over. Sunny, gossipy neighbor. She laughed and laughed and smiled and smiled and she laughed and smiled and and and and and and

"Sit down," Wanda suggested, a red glow around her when her outfit changed into something less dramatic. Now she wore a turtleneck. Gosh, Agnes wished she could pull off turtlenecks.

She just didn't have the body for it, not like Wanda did.

"Say, that's a nifty little trick, hon," she laughed, "mind teaching it to me?"

Wanda smiled at her. "Maybe next time, Agnes."

"Sure, baby doll," Agnes said, "next time." She looked at the TV when Wanda turned it on, listening to the audience laughter echo through the set.

The volume sure was good on this one. She'd just bought it a while ago, not that she could remember exactly when. But a while ago, that was all she needed to know.

"Agnes?" Wanda laid a hand on her shoulder and Agnes blinked.

It was dark out now and she was holding onto an empty cup of coffee with both hands, real tight, so she quickly sat it down before it broke or something. Yikes, that would have been embarrassing.

"Wow," she sighed, "sorry, sugar, I must've fallen asleep! What time is it?"

"Just six," Wanda said. "Agnes?"

"Yeah, hon?"

Wanda looked at her. It felt like a bit of a staring contest so she looked back, and she just couldn't help smiling until her face hurt, until everything everything everything everything—

"Are you in pain?"

Agnes had no idea how to answer that one. What a strange question! She laughed. Wanda always had been good with the jokes.

"Oh no, I'm just fine. Although I do have a bit of a crick in my neck, now that you mention it...mind massaging it out?" Agnes laughed loudly. "Kidding!"

Wanda gently touched the back of her neck. The muscle pain she imagined there suddenly was nowhere at all. She felt great. Better than great. Maybe she had just imagined it all.

"Wow," Agnes said, "on second thought, I feel like going for a jog! What do you say, wanna come with?"

"No," Wanda said. "I think I'm going to go home."

She didn't sound super happy about that, but Agnes didn't comment, for once.

"Okay, sweetie. I'll see you around. Don't you be a stranger now!" Agnes waved cheerfully until Wanda just up and flew out of her house, merging through the ceiling to do so with minimal damage.

Her friend Wanda, always so thoughtful.

Agnes never did go for that jog.

She sat there and watched the sitcom instead.

It was a marathon, and better a TV marathon than the kind that required exercise!

Agnes laughed at her own joke, even if no one was there to hear it.

  


  


Agnes watched a spider in the bathroom after her shower.

It was a tiny thing, lots of legs, pretty cute in comparison to huge spiders with lots of legs, but that was a given. If it had been big she would've called Ralph in to take care of it. But there was no need for that, not with this one. It was slow, spinning a web in the little corner above the sink, taking the silvery strands from there to the faucet.

Agnes stood there and watched it.

Agnes stood there and watched it, and one of the lights above the sink kept flickering until finally it burned out. Probably a burnt bulb, she'd have Ralph replace it later.

Agnes stood there and watched the spider, and thought that if anyone was to have a pet spider it should have been this one. So imperceptibly small that it didn't matter how gross and spidery it looked up close. It was just spinning. It was just living.

Agnes caught a glimpse of her own face above the sink in the mirror. It was wet, but she was smiling. Grinning. She looked happy. She did. She really did.

And she was. She really was.

There was no reason, not a one, for her not to be.

Agnes looked at the spider, her cheeks aching. She couldn't stop smiling. That was fine. Being so happy was worth a little pain, wasn't it?

Agnes looked at the spider and suffered under the overwhelming weight of the sudden desire to squish it with a piece of toilet paper and flush it, which she eventually gave in and did.

It was too bad. The spider had been kind of cute.

Agnes got out of the bathroom, her hair in a towel, and ran right into Wanda.

They both screamed. Or well, Agnes thought they both should've been screaming, but it was just her, and then it went on for a little too long and she had to remind herself to stop.

"Wow, Wanda, you sure do like to sneak up on people, don'tcha? Give a girl a little warning next time. I'm not as young as I used to be and neither is my heart!"

Wanda smiled at her. She looked a little tired, poor thing. “I'm sorry, Agnes. Next time. I promise.”

“Well, as long as you promise.” Agnes gave her a wink. “Can I help you to anything? Coffee? Water? Tea? Juice? Beer? Wine? Coffee? Water? Tea?”

“Tea,” Wanda said suddenly, sharply. Agnes stopped and looked at her, but nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Poor thing probably just had a headache. Poor thing. Poor Wanda. Agnes was willing to bet that she was having some marriage troubles. She hadn't seen the husband around for a while, after all.

“Tea,” Agnes chirped. “All righty then! Come on down and let me fix you a cup, hon.”

Wanda stood beside her as she made the tea, and quietly corrected her when she went to put sugar in it. “None of that, thank you.”

“Are we feeling all right today?” Agnes asked when they'd sat down on the couch together. “Anything you want to talk about?”

Wanda stared at her. “I don't know what you mean.”

Agnes laughed. “I'm just making conversation. You look like you've had a bad day, that's all! And you know your favorite neighbor is right here to help if you need it. Say, how about we go out somewhere instead of sitting inside all day? We could go shopping. A little retail therapy!” She nudged Wanda enthusiastically. It may have been too forceful, since Wanda flinched.

“No,” Wanda said immediately, almost before Agnes had even finished her sentence.

“All right. That's just fine with me. Maybe next time, huh?” Agnes grinned. She hadn't stopped grinning. Sometimes she thought that she was just grinning forever forever forever and would never stop and would just keep going and going and going forever and ever and ever until something just _BROKE_ –

“Agnes.”

“Mm-hm?”

“Have you painted anything else?”

It took a moment for Agnes to realize what she was talking about. “Oh! Afraid not. I almost had something – it came to me in a _dream,_ you know, like I was Picasso or that other one who cut his ear off or something—“ She paused here for laughter, but Wanda didn't even crack a smile so it was just Agnes laughing, alone, like always, “and, anyway, I got the paints and I went to do the whole thing and...” Agnes snapped her fingers. “Nothing! I completely forgot what the dream was about. Too bad. I bet it was a fun one.”

“Too bad,” Wanda echoed softly.

“But, you know, most of my dreams are like that. I have 'em every night, these things, and by morning, they're all gone. Poof. That's all right, though. They're all nightmares.”

“Nightmares?”

“Yep.” Agnes popped the 'p', smiling cheerfully. “Can't say I remember a single one, though, just the feeling when I wake up, and I guess I should be thankful for that, huh?” She laughed.

“Yes, you should be.”

“You ever have nightmares, hon?”

“All the time.”

“Well, jeez, that doesn't sound fun. I'm sorry, sugar. You ever want some sleeping pills, I've got a whole bunch of them in every purse I own!”

Wanda stared at her for a while, and then leaned in and kissed Agnes on the cheek. There was a reaction in her body that felt inevitable, like a jolt coming up from the pit of her stomach and into her throat, like some hand reaching around inside her, digging around her insides. It came to the surface, not verbal but hard and relentlessly physical: an unpleasant shiver, a quake, a flinch.

And then, suddenly, nothing. Agnes grinned, not sure why she'd felt so strange just a moment ago. This was Wanda, not some stranger. This was Wanda, her dear friend Wanda. Her friend Wanda. Wanda.

Wanda.

“Thank you, Agnes,” Wanda said, standing up. “I'll see you next time.”

“Not if I see you first, hon,” Agnes said cheerily. It made Wanda pause, but not for long, and then she was walking right out the door, into the street, and disappearing in a haze of red mist.

Agnes stood there in the open doorway and stared at that spot until it got dark, and someone passing by on the sidewalk kindly stopped to inform her that maybe she wanted to go inside for the night, it was getting cold.

They were right, she thought as she closed the door.

It was getting cold.

  


  


Agnes was so happy to be out of the house for a change.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy Westview. She _loved_ Westview. She loved Westview. She loved Westview and all the people in it. She loved her husband Ralph, even if he could be a little tiresome she loved him in the way wives loved their husbands, you know, with all the fond exasperation in the world and not like she was trapped in

She loved Westview. It was full of great, fun people, and she had so many friends there, and family like her husband Ralph who she loved with all of the fond exasperation in the world and not like she was trapped

She loved Westview.

Agnes loved Westview, really, she did, but it was nice to be out of the house for a change. She wasn't sure how she'd ended up here, exactly, in the cold outside of a cabin near the mountains and a lake, but she figured she must have just walked. She had to get her steps in every day, after all, or how else would she get her buns to be like _steel?_ Look, maybe once when she was younger she'd be able to do that, but at this age...please!

Women her age had to put in the work. And she loved putting in the work. Agnes loved Westview, really, and all its citizens, all her neighbors. She didn't see them much any more, but that was fine, they were busy, they were all busy, they all had lives. Agnes adored them anyway.

She loved Westview. It had just been a slow couple of months or weeks or something, that was all.

Agnes was cold and shivering, and it occurred to her that maybe she should have stopped walking a while back, instead of going on and on and on, but Wanda was in front of her still, still walking, still telling her to keep walking, and since she and Wanda were such good and close friends and Wanda admittedly looked pretty good from the back, just like she did from the front and every other possible angle, Agnes kept walking.

She loved Westview, but she liked this cabin too. It looked real nice and cozy, and she was kind of grateful to see it because while she did like to get her steps in, this had been – well, not that many steps. She'd just blinked and Wanda was there in front of her, in the same get-up she recalled seeing her in before, like she was headed to a Halloween party, and then she'd blinked again and she was standing at the shore of a lake and Wanda was in front of her again, and they were just walking the short distance to the cabin.

But it felt like it had been a while, that was all. Things felt like that to Agnes sometimes, who just seemed to live and live and live, while everyone else went on without her.

But that was silly.

Agnes was just being silly.

Agnes was happy in Westview, but she was happy to see Wanda again, too. It had been she didn't know how long, and she was so eager to catch up on everything she'd missed, all the hot gossip—

“Agnes.”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Stop talking.”

Agnes stopped talking, and she also stopped walking or else she'd run right into the back of Wanda. She stumbled a little, laughing. “Oops. Sorry, sugar, I think I've got two left feet today—“

Wanda reached out and waved a hand by Agnes' head and –

( _crash_

went her memories

and–)

Agnes crumpled into the snow and –

( _hiya neighbor hiya neighbor hiya neighbor_ there's a bus and someone is getting on it there are three people huddled around the end of a sidewalk talking about plane tickets they stop talking when they see agnes there are moving vans there are children now suddenly and _hey kiddo you really shouldn't run around in the street like that you know_ GET AWAY FROM MY KID _sorry neighbor i promise there's no stranger danger with me around ha ha ha ha ahahaha_ and there are children and the houses on either side of her are vacant now and wanda's house is gone like really gone completely gone! just gone just empty like her insides carved out and vanished like her insides all empty and hollow just dirt just like her insides just like her just an empty plot just like agnes isn't that so strange and funny ha ha hahaha wanda is gone everything is gone and someone stops her in the freezer aisle at the grocery store this one time and says very kindly and sadly you don't deserve this YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS NO ONE DOES and agnes laughs and laughs and says i don't know i don't know what you're i don't know what you're talking about and _PLEASE_ agnes dreams all the time she closes her eyes and she dreams and she wakes up crying sweating teeth in tongue coughing up spit nightmares of wanda and rubble and blood and loss and grief and grief and grief and _PLEASE STOP_ hiya neighbor _hiya neighbor! dottie! dottiedottiedottie! howareyoudoing i haven't seen you in forever_ MY NAME IS SARAH _okey-dokey artichoke!_

_PLEASE PLEASE_

and it's all gone

everything is all gone

agatha is all gone)

  


  


Agnes stopped laughing.

Agatha looked up at Wanda, and Wanda looked down at her, and Agatha was struck by the realization that she could do whatever she wanted now, and nothing was holding her back.

So Agatha screamed.

**Author's Note:**

> i am TRAUMATIZED by the idea of what agatha is currently going through


End file.
